Online subject choice guidance for Grade 9 learners

“If we succeed in giving the love of learning, the learning itself is sure to follow.” Sir John Lubbock

Choosing subjects in Grade 9 for Grade 10 is a crucially important decision for learners as it can impact their career choices and their tertiary education courses, but also they need to know they can cope well with the subject requirements and start their post-school life with a good matric pass. But a lack of full understanding of the subjects and unsureness about their futures can often lead to unwise choices at this crucial crossroads of their lives.

Three Tsogo Sun entertainment destinations in Gauteng – Montecasino, Gold Reef City and Silverstar Casino – in collaboration with The Education Agency, are working with five high schools in a comprehensive career guidance and development programme that incorporates the crucial first step: effectively helping the learners to choose Grade 10 subjects in accordance with their skills and abilities, personality traits, and plans for the future.

The Career Development programme was launched by Tsogo Sun at Mosupatsela Secondary School in Kagiso in the West Rand in 2016 and has been steadily growing, now impacting five schools in Gauteng with the Tsogo Sun entertainment destinations supporting the schools in their areas: Silverstar – Thathulwazi, Mosupatsela and Mandisa Shiceka secondary schools; Montecasino – Itirele Zenzele Secondary; and Gold Reef City – Johannesburg Secondary School.

Anne-Marie Stanisavljevic, MD of The Education Agency, says subject selection is the first important decision learners have to make in their high school careers. They select three additional subjects, combined with the four compulsory subjects (First Home Language, Second Additional Language, Life Orientation and either Mathematics or Maths Literacy), to continue with these seven subjects through grades 10 to 12. “Making uninformed choices or unrealistic decisions could limit tertiary study choices, which in turn can influence the learner’s desired career direction and impact learners motivation.”

The Education Agency uses their Online Career Guidance tool to ensure that the learners make informed choices by evaluating learners’ interests, skills and personality characteristics to assess the most suitable options. The Education Agency also provides each learner with a comprehensive individual career guidance report to guide them in their subject selection, and their tertiary studies and most suitable career options.

Since 2016, Tsogo Sun’s partnership with The Education Agency has seen 4,161 Grade 9 learners benefiting from the subject choice career guidance evaluation.

Shanda Paine, Tsogo Sun’s Group CSI Manager, highlights that education is at the heart of Tsogo Sun’s CSI strategy – in response to high unemployment levels among young people in South Africa and to contribute to economic growth. “Tsogo Sun is working together with local secondary schools and other stakeholders to provide a career guidance programme that can create a pipeline of learner development from grades 9 to 12. The online evaluation exercise in Grade 9 highlights suitable career opportunities and guides the learners’ subject choices. In Grade 10, learners attend workshops on topics such as career exploration and subject affirmation, as well as spend a mentor day with Tsogo Sun staff volunteers. Grade 11 workshops cover people skills, money skills, tertiary education options, job shadowing opportunities, and job-readiness training, which intensifies in Grade 12.”

Paine adds, “These carefully structured initiatives in career guidance help high school learners plan and implement their own career journeys and make realistic choices. It’s also been found to be highly motivational and inspirational as young learners find out so much more about themselves and their potential.”

Tsogo Sun has a portfolio of over 100 hotels and 13 casino and entertainment destinations throughout South Africa, Africa and the Seychelles. For more details, visit https://www.tsogosun.com, follow on Twitter @TsogoSun or like on Facebook/TsogoSun.